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“I was sad Ghost wasn’t coming around anymore. The only time I saw you was on the camera feed. I thought I did something wrong, something to upset you. I thought you were mad at me for still seeing you…the other you…Nox…whatever. You know what I mean.”

I can’t help but smile at that. I flipped her world upside down. My plan worked perfectly. She fell for the two sides of me independently, now I have no reason to hide who I am from her. She accepts each and every part of me, murderous intentions and all.

Continuing, she says, “You realize how fucking bonkers it is that you were jealous of yourself, right?” Letting out a quiet laugh, a small smile curves her lips. It alleviates some of the darkness looming over this conversation. “Do you know how much of a mindfuck it was to realize you two were the same person while I was kidnapped?”

“You knew that whole time?”

“I didn’t know, like one hundred percent, but I was pretty fucking sure, yeah.”

“You’re so smart,” I reply. I mean it, she’s bloody fucking brilliant. She survived.

“No, I’m not. If I was, I would have realized it wasn’t you at my window a whole lot sooner.”

Revulsion grows in my gut as I prepare to endure whatever fucked up thing she doesn’t want to reveal. “What happened?” I ask, trying to hide the shake in myvoice as my ass starts sweating through my briefs from the nervous energy thrumming under my skin.

She heaves in a deep breath, “Promise not to be mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you? Mallory, what did you do?!” I say sharper than intended, the mounting anxiety causing me to slowly lose hold on my emotions.

“When Johnson showed up at my window that night, I was so happy to see you. But then you turned and left.” She hangs her head, diverting her gaze from mine. “Something inside me broke, being disregarded so blatantly. So, I ran after you…him.”

Mallory raises her face, not looking at me, but past me. Out the window to the yard, she relives the whole traumatizing event. “I stood outside, screaming and begging for you to come back because I wanted to fix whatever I had done to make you not want to be with me. Then you came back…and I was so happy. I ignored the bad feeling in my gut, rationalized it away as you being upset, and I was just picking up on the negative energy pouring off you. But something was wrong…and when he touched me, I knew it wasn’t you. I was just too late and I couldn’t get away.”

Mal’s eyes refocus, glossy with irritation from not blinking. She trails her sight back to mine, sadness carved into the very fabric of her soul. I feel it as her essence reaches out to touch mine, pulling me to her. I want to comfort her, despite the urge to kill Ted all over again breaking the surface. I’d dig up his corpse, not giving a shit that the county funded his funeral, and deliver it to my little siren. Watching her whiskey eyes ignite withdesire as his body burns on a pyre of my making, putting her demons to bed one devotional act at a time. Fuck, the thought is enough to tent my pants.

But now is not the time for inappropriate thoughts.

“When did he take you?” I ask, steering my mind back to the current conversation.

“The same night I brought you dinner.”

Ted was there when I got back, he was sitting in the briefing room with everyone else while I waited in my uncle’s office.

“I can see your mind running, Ghost. Just let it go, it’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do about it now.” she says.

I don’t miss how she calls me Ghost, knowing full well it will fill my head full of the memories of her beneath me.Guess this is her way of putting an end to the conversation. So clever. So devious. So perfect for me.

Perhaps my inappropriate thoughts aren’t so poorly timed after all.

“You know I wasn’t mad at you, right?” I say, trying to stay on par with the mood in the room instead of just lunging at her like an animal. “I was just so tired, trying to work the case while still spending every minute I could with you, even if you weren’t awake.”

“I know that now, yes.”

“Good,” I reply.

Mallory offers me a small smile, looking off and out the window again. She starts nibbling on her bottom lip, lost in thought. Something is still weighing on her and it will bother me if I don’t find out what it is. “There’s something you’re not telling me, what is it?”

Her wide eyes snap back to mine. “How did— How do you always know?” she exclaims. I just beam a massive smile at her. She knows I’ll say it’s my job, and that I know her better than she will ever comprehend, so I just stay silent.

“Ugh, fine. I flashed him.” she huffs.

“You what?!” I growl.

She fakes lifting up her t-shirt and showing off her breasts, embarrassment colouring her face as red floods my vision. “So, you showed him your tits?” I grumble.

“I was trying to get you to stay.” she counters.

“You know I wouldn’t have left if you did that.”